Question

Difficulty: MediumPatch and Configuration Management

An enterprise security operations team is enhancing the security posture of an automated CI/CD deployment pipeline for containerized microservices. To prevent configuration drift from the established hardening baseline and guarantee timely vulnerability remediation across deployed container hosts, which of the following operational practices should be implemented? (Select TWO.)

  1. Rebuild and redeploy container base images whenever security patches are published for underlying OS dependenciesAnswer
  2. B
    Deploy network firewall rules to block traffic targeting unpatched software vulnerabilities as a permanent replacement for patching
  3. Integrate automated configuration baseline scanning into the build pipeline to reject non-compliant image definitionsAnswer
  4. D
    Reclassify unauthorized configuration drift as a detective control to allow non-compliant images to bypass build checks

Answer

Rebuilding and redeploying container base images when OS patches are released, along with integrating automated baseline compliance scanning into the deployment pipeline, ensures effective patch and configuration management.
In modern containerized deployments, patch management relies on updating the underlying base image and redeploying containers (immutable infrastructure) rather than patching live instances. Simultaneously, automated baseline scanning during the pipeline execution ensures that configuration standards are verified before deployment, effectively preventing configuration drift.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze container patch management requirements in modern CI/CD pipelines
Recognize that containerized applications utilize immutable deployment patterns, requiring base image updates rather than in-place server patching
Direct patching of running containers leads to configuration drift and inconsistent environments across microservices
2
Evaluate configuration drift prevention mechanisms
Identify automated image configuration scanning as the preventive mechanism to enforce hardening baselines prior to deployment
Automated pipeline checks prevent non-compliant or drift-susceptible container definitions from reaching production environments

Key Concept

Immutable Container Patching and Pipeline Configuration Auditing
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